William Kittredge's stunning memoir is at once autobiography, a family chronicle, and a Westerner's settling of accounts with the land he grew up in. This is the story of a grandfather whose single-minded hunger for property won him a ranch the size of Delaware but estranged him from his family; of a father who farmed with tractors and drainage ditches but consorted with movie stars; and of Kittredge himself, who was raised by cowboys and saw them become obsolete, who floundered through three marriages, hard drinking, and madness before becoming a writer. Host hauntingly, Hole in the Sky is an honest reckoning of the American myth that drove generations of Americans westward -- and what became of their dream after they reached the edge.
Autobiography/Memoir
"A pleasure to read ... [Kittredge] has written a remarkably frank account of his own life, and at every stage it was interesting.... You will not have read another Western like this."
-- Washington Post Book World
"A grand and true story by one of our finest writers."
-- Annie Dillard
"The story of the Kittredges ... intersects mightily with the myth of American expansion and 'improvement' of the 'wilderness.'... a valuable memoir that should be read with care ... [Kittredge's] voice should be a prophetic one."
William Kittredge's stunning memoir is at once autobiography, a family chronicle, and a Westerner's settling of accounts with the land he grew up in. This is the story of a grandfather whose single-minded hunger for property won him a ranch the size of Delaware but estranged him from his family; of a father who farmed with tractors and drainage ditches but consorted with movie stars; and of Kittredge himself, who was raised by cowboys and saw them become obsolete, who floundered through three marriages, hard drinking, and madness before becoming a writer. Host hauntingly, Hole in the Sky is an honest reckoning of the American myth that drove generations of Americans westward -- and what became of their dream after they reached the edge.
Praise
Autobiography/Memoir
"A pleasure to read ... [Kittredge] has written a remarkably frank account of his own life, and at every stage it was interesting.... You will not have read another Western like this."
-- Washington Post Book World
"A grand and true story by one of our finest writers."
-- Annie Dillard
"The story of the Kittredges ... intersects mightily with the myth of American expansion and 'improvement' of the 'wilderness.'... a valuable memoir that should be read with care ... [Kittredge's] voice should be a prophetic one."
